Gauge for sheet metal working presses



Feb. 9, 1960 N. A. GUARlNo GAUGE FOR SHEET METAL woRKING PREssEs Filed July 5, 1957 United States Patent O GAUGE FOR SHEET METAL WORKING PRESSES Nicholas A. Guarino, Elmwood Park, Ill.

Application July 5, 19'57, Serial No. 670,258

7 Claims. (Cl. 153-21) This invention relates to gauges for sheet metal working presses and more specifically to a novel gauge for use in a press brake for gauging bends in sheet metal.

Various gauge mechanisms have heretofore been proposed but have failed to gain wide acceptance because they had only limited use or were costly or extremely complex and difiicult to adjust In press brake gauges accuracy and ruggedness are exti'ernely important features and previous attempts have failed to provide both of these attributes in a simple unit at low cost.

A general object of the invention is to provide a rugged, simple and highly accurate gauge which may be easily adj'usted and mount various gauge tools.

A further object is to provide a press brake gauging mechanism of such nature that one or more of such mechanisms may be adjustably attached to the press brake anvil or bed structure by a channel or rail or the like so that the gauging unit or units may be shifted to any locus along the anvil or bed die for gauging contact with the work, each unit further being adjustable transversely as well as vertically with respect to the press bed die to position the tool for internal, external as well as edge contact with the work.

A more specific object is to device a novel gauge unit which includes a tool carrying element which is suitably connected to various calibrated incrernental adjusting means for positioning the tool in desired locus.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the specification and drawings, wherein:

Figura 1 is a perspective view of the gauge mechanism in association with a press fragmentarily shown and the work-piece illustrated in phatom lines;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the press and gau'ge mechanism;

Figure 3 is a transverse Vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 4-4 of Figure 3; and,

Figure 5 is a horizontal section on line 5-5 of Figure 3.

Describing the invention in detail the press brake generally designated 2 is of any conventional construction as well known to those skilled in the art and comprises a bed or anvil portion 3 to which is -attached the anvil or stationary female die 4 and against which `loperates the reciprocating male die 5 for bendng the work-piece 6 which may be in the form of a piece of sheet metal entered between the dies. o

The bend in the Sheet metal is determined by the gauge mechanism generally ch'araeterized 7 mounted on the support or mounting bar 8 which runs the length of the anvil die 4 generally parallel and in laterally inwardly spaced relation thereto. The bar 8 is mounted upon the side frames 9 of the bed of lthe press. It will be understood that there are several of these gauging mecham'sms on the support 8 and each mechanism Vcom-` 'ice prises a frame 10 elongated transversely of the bottom die 4. The frame includes a generally rectangular base 11 intermediately of which there are provided'integral depending front and rear flanges 12 and 13 which abut on their confronting sides 14 and 15 against the front and rear edges 16 and 17 of the bar. The base provides between the fianges 12 and 13 a bottom seat 18 via which the mechanism 7 rests on the top surface 19 of the support bar. The flanges 12 and 13 are straddled across their bottom extremities by a retaining plate 20 which underlies the bar 8 and at opposite edges is secured'by bolts 21 and 22 to the flanges 12 and 13, respectively. The gauge' is held in adjusted position along the length of the bar by looking Wing bolts 23 which are threaded through the plate 20 and tighten against the support bar through a plate 24 which prevents gouging the support bar.

The body portion 10 of the gauge is provided with an upstanding end wall 26 through which there is threaded at 27 a horizontal traverse screw 28 to the rear end of which there is secured a calibrated gauge wheel 29 to which is connected a crank 30. The periphery 31 of the wheel is graduated and marked with indicia 0-5- -1() 15 etc. which register with a pointed end 32 of a pointer 33.

The pointer extends lengthwise of the device and at its vother end 34 is secured as by screws 35 to the back side 35' of a horizontal traverse block or horizontal gauge element 36.

The block 36 has a pair of outwardly extending lugs 37 and 38 at opposite sides which fit into complementary slots 39 and 40 at opposite sides of the body portion 10 of the gauge above the base 11 thereof. Slots 39 and 40 have inwardly open sides and the upper, lower and outer sides 'or surfaces 43, 44, 45 of slot 39 are accurately formed and guide the lug 37 which has sides 46, 47, 48 engaging the sides 43, 44, 45. Similarly the top and bottom sides 49 and 50 and outer Vertical side 51 of slot 40 form accurate guides for lug 38 and engage its corresponding sides 52, 53, 54 to guide the block horizontally.

The block 36 is moved by the screw 28 which has its forward end 55 entered into'a horizontal aperture or bore 56 formed generally centrally in the back side of the block. The end 55 of the screw has a cylindrical reduced portion 57 into which a ball 58 is pressed by I a spring 59 which with the ball fits in a Vertical opening 60, the spring bearing at its lower end on the ball and pressing it against the cylindrical periphery 61 of the end portion 55 of the screw behind the radial shoulder 62 to prevent withdrawal of the screw. The tapered .forward terminal end 64 of the screw complementally bears against the closed end 65 of the bore 56 to move the block forwardly and retraction of the block loads the shoulder against the ball. The spring is held compressed by the plug 66 which is threaded into the upper end of bore and bears against the upper end of the spring 59.

A tool holder 68 is mounted on the forward side of the horizontal traverse block 36 and has a dovetail interlock therewith and is vertically adjustable with respect Athereto and comprises a block 69 having an intermediate portion 70 of reduced width which fits between the introverted laterally spaced Vertical fianges 72, 73 on the forward side of the block 36. The inner portion of block 69 is provided with Vertical guide lugs 74, 75 at opposite ;sides which fit behind flanges 72, 73 respectively and enter into Vertical slots 76, '77 which open nwardly, slot 76 being defined by Vertical inner and outer accurately formed` surfaces 78, 79 and a lateral surface 80. These faces 78, 79, and S0 are engaged by the accurately formed inner and outer-andlateral facesor sides 81, 82,

Paented Feb. 9,v 1960 t and.83 onguide`74`. Similarly, slot 77 is defined by inner, outer and lateral guide surfaces 84, 85 and 86 en-` gaging the opposing inner, outer and lateral guide faces 87,. 88,` 89.. on the. 111g 75-H .The toolholderisjlocked Or secured in. the.

anismgenerally designated 90 including a pair of laterally spaced wedge shoes 91 and 92 which are disposed at opposite sides of a pocketr93 formed in' the' block 69 between its upper and lower extremities 94 and 95 'and as .best sefen in Figures 2 through 4, the pocket`93 has an openback side 96, and' lateral open ends 97 'and 98 through which project the wedge shoes 91 and 92 which at. their top and bottom horizontal edges 99 and 100 are in guided engagement with the horizontal top and bottom surfaces 101 and 102 of the .pocket to guide the shoes iufand out of thepocket. the shoes 91 and 92 provide horizontally stepped Vertical frictionorlocking faces, these surfaces 103 and 104 on shoe 91 engagng surfaces.80 and 105 on the block 36 and the corresponding surfaces 10.6 and 107 on the shoe 92 engaging surfaces 86 and 109 on theV block 36. The shoes are preferably formed of brass or. like material which has good seizure characteristics for holdingV the tool holder block 69 against Vertical movement.` It will benoted'frOm Figure 4 that the outer portions of the shoes are'narrower than the inner portions to provide an interlock by the shoes in the slots 76 and 77 and that the inner portions are relatively broad Vto provide large bearing areas at their upper and lower edges as well as on their inner or confronting edges or wedge faces 110 and 111 '(Figure 3) which converge downwardly and are engaged by the wcdge means 112 which urge the shoes apart attendant to downward movement thereof. In the present instance these wedge means comprise a downwardly tapered nose or end 112 on the lower end of a .desired.. vertically adjusted positions by a novel locking niech-Lv maaac. i

well as a diagonal guiding surface. 129.v In order. to i operate the' unit after it has been sleeved over the support bar and tightened in place and the tool entered in` the jaw, the crank 30 is actuated to rotate the horizontal traverse screwt28 after the locking ring 130, which is threaded on the screw 28 between the support flange 36 and tool'chuck 68 mounted thereon-.is gauged initially by the pointer 131 mounted on the back side of block 36 and the ruler or linear scale`132 with which it r'eg'isters, the ruler` 132 extending lengthwie of the base and mounted and secured upon the top side of guide rail The remote or outer edges ofA i 133 (Figure '1). Thenthe fineor incrernental adjustments are made by reading the calibration on the wheel or vernier scale 29 against the pointer 33. Vertical adjustment is normally determined by eye and this proceeds i by locsening screw 11.4, then. Positioning the blQCk. 69

screw 114, said nose providng a downwardly focused conical surface 115 (Figure 2) which rotatably engages the surfaces 110 and 111. Preferably one .of the shoes i shoe with .the `wedge against horizontal movement-into and out of the open back side `96 of the pocket whereas the other shoe 92 may have the face 111 fiat and tangentially .engage 'the cOnical'Wedge 115. Shoe 92 Vthus adjusts its position horizontally in two planes and thus corrects only 7slight misalignments which may occur upon wear of the unit.

;As 4previously indicated the wedge is part of a screw, the :shankl114 of which is threaded into a Vertical bore 116 in block 69 and open through the upper extremity 9.4 `thereof. The screw 114 has an upper wrench-engaging end for rotation by an appropriate tool. A stop 118 is 'pivotally .mounted by a screw 119 on the Vupper end of block 36 in the path of movement of block 69 to limit its upper movement out of assembly with block 36 as it is .carried about but is swingable out of the path of such movement when it is desired to adjust the position of-the block at a higher `elevation and for such reason the .dsposition of the locking means intermediate the top and bottom of holder 69 as shown allows such positioning of'the holder.

'The holder .69 has a forwardly open preferably horizontal jaw 120 adjacent to its upper end and comprises top and bottom jaw membersV 121 and 122 between which is received' the gauge tool 123 and clamped therein by screws .12,4V threaded in the upper jaw element 121.

As .bestiseen in aFigures 1 -and 2 the tool-carrying or Vertical 'gauge block 123 preferably has a plate-like mounting portion 125 which fits into -the vjaw and may provide a forward guide or indexing edge 126. It may be. also formed with .a forwardly projecting vguide portion` which provides anexternal guide edge '127, the projection depcnding below the plate 125 `andproviding an `internal guide. .o r .imienne-.surface ...128 :with .the .tool.-iuverted gas..

manually and then tightening the screw `114.`

ThQS a IlQVeland practcally foolproof unit is provided with easy calibrated horizontal adjustment. A novel Vertical adjustrnent is obtained without any cumbersome .interferingtadjusting structure and vone which positively holds the tool chuck in place. After having made the Vhorizoxnitalt adjustment the lockingpwheel is rotated to engage with the end wall;

`It will be understood that a preferred form of the. invention has been shown and described and the inventionsnot .to be .limited to the particular structure shown but as set forth in the appended claims.

I clairn: I

l. A` guge'comprising aV mounting. frame including `a base member having a .horizontal slot, `a horizontal gauge block slidably Vsupported on said base member within said slot for movement 4to and fro, said base member having atproximal extremity and a distal ex-` tremity, an upstanding end wall on said distal extremity, an adjusting Vscrew threaded through an opening insaid wall andhaving .one endrotatably connected` to said horizontal gauge block, a gauge cylinder directly con-. `nected to the bpposite end 'of said screw outwardly of said wall, a locking nut threaded on the screw between said cylinder `andwall for locking engagementtwith the latter,` a pointer .connected to .said `horizontal gauge i block and movable .therewith and extending to said gauge`` cylinder, 'said gauge cylinder movable with .the .block 'and in) .constant `rfe'lative relationshiptto the pointer,

graduations on `the cylinder cooperatively readable against said pointer, and a tool. chuck` mounted upon embracing said Vertical block therebetween, said -vertical said hon'zontabgauge block.

2. In a gauge for press brakes,. a frame adapted to be.

attched `to thepress,v a'horizontal. gauge block mounted thereon, means for adjusting the'horizontal position of i said. block on the frame, avertical gauge block` slidably interlocked with the `horizontalga'uge block, and quicklocking-nieansufor releasablylocking said Vertical block in selectedvertically displacedpositions and `comprisng` a pair `of `Vertical surfaces `on ``said horizontal block charaterizedin thatv at least one of said vfacesv is arcuate al d .in sqmalsmjmry enlsgmlt with Said W189 element.

' 4. The 'invention ,.aeeording nto .claim.,2 andone `of complementally engaging said arcuate face and tangentally engaging said flat face.

5. A brake press gauge comprising a base adapted to be mounted upon the press, a horizontal gauge element adjustably mounted upon said base, said element having a forward side with apair of Vertical lateral forwardly extending flanges and introverted flanges on said lateral flanges defining therewith Vertical guide slots, a toolcarrying Vertical gauge member having a portion extending between said introverted flanges and having side flanges projecting into respective slots in Vertical guided engagement with the sides thereof, said member having a pocket intermediate its ends open to respective flanges of said element, said lateral and introverted flanges providing laterally stepped guide surfaces, a shoe at each side of the pocket having laterally stepped guide surfaces in engagement with respective laterally stepped surfaces, and wedge means releasably interposed between said shoes and urgng said shoes apart.

6. In a brake press gauge having a base, a horizontal gauge element slidably mounted thereon, means for adjusting said element fore and aft and including means for gauging the position of said element comprising a horizontal screw rotatably connected at one end to the element, an upstanding member on said base having a threaded opening through which an intermediate portion of said screw extends, a cylinder connected to aid screw, a peripheral vernier scale on said cylinder, a pointer connected to said element and extending parallel to said screw and having an end remote from said element disposed in indicating relation to said vernier scale, said pointer and said cylinder movable horizontally together, a linear scale mounted on said base and extending parallel to the screw, and a pointer extending laterally from said element in indicating relation to said linear scale.

7. The invention according to claim 2 and further characterized in that said shoes are made of material having a high seizure characteristic.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

